The Houses of Untethered Youths were a series of institutions set up by the Blackfrock Society in various cities around the empire starting in the Middle Imperial period.  They served as places for middle- and upper-class parents to send their children for short periods of time (generally around a year) when they began to reach the age of maturity but for whatever reason had not yet married or settled on a profession.  Most Untethered Youths were around eighteen or nineteen when they were sent to the houses, although there was some variation over time and in different cities.  The houses were operated entirely by members of the Blackfrock Society according to strict rules, and imperial authorities had little control over them, a fact which prompted numerous Diets of Uz to decide whether they were even legal and how they should be taxed, culminating in the decision at the Diet held in 511 that the houses would be legal provided nothing violating imperial law happened in them, and that they should be taxed at a flat rate per house, to be paid annually by the local Blackfrock chapter.  This decision held for the remainder of the imperial period, and the status of the Houses was secure as long as the empire was in control of the cities.

The basic floorplan of a House was circular, with three-level bunkbeds around the perimeter.  In the center was a four-headed open shower, surrounded by tables for eating food served by Blackfrock Society members.  Four toilets were spaced equally along the perimeter.  The basic idea behind this design was that there would be no privacy whatsoever inside the House; all activities and bodily functions would be visible to all residents.  Residents were also required to be nude at all times to facilitate sexual activity.  Ideally there would be an equal mix of male and female residents, as homosexuality was strictly forbidden by imperial law and frowned upon by the church, but this varied from place to place, and some Houses (that of Kreyinte in particular) had only a token number of female residents and were informally known as hotbeds of male homosexuality.

The original purpose of the Houses was to satisfy the voracious sexual appetites of the members of the Blackfrock Society, who were permitted to enter a House at any time and request satisfaction from any member (who was, however, not obligated to give it).  The rumors of lesbianism in the Society may have started because of the intense secrecy surrounding the Houses and the known presence of female residents, but it is most likely that the female residents were initially included to avoid the impropriety that would surround all-male houses, as well as to keep the male residents occupied when there were no Society members present.  This is not to say that there was no lesbianism at the Houses, as there was surely a certain amount, both between Blackfrocks and residents and among residents themselves, just that the later reputation of the Society for rampant lesbianism is probably undeserved.

In the Later Period, the Society began to offer nights in the houses as rewards for important actions by prominent women; the first woman to be awarded one was Erikoinen Kervovasdottir in 498 for her death-defying flight through a hurricane.  Later, prominent scholars, noblewomen, and members of the royal family were award nights for various deeds judged as worthy by the Society.  Non-resident men were strictly forbidden from entering the houses at all times, and not even an emperor could convince the Blackfrocks to grant him entrance (though several tried, most famously Lagador II).

The early Targhandists were not entirely opposed to the operation of the Houses, and Ghizni was even granted a night in the one in Uzda shortly after the conversion of that city, but as the Blackfrock Society declined along with the empire Houses began to close, and during the Reformation the proponents of the newer form of Targhandism, heavily influenced by traditional Kreyinten misogyny, demanded the destruction of all vestiges of the matriarchal Blackfrocks, including the few Houses still in existence.  They were mostly shuttered entirely, though the Kreyinten one, which by that point probably had no female members at all and was primarily a venue for casual sodomy, was incorporated into the new Seminary of Kreyinte.

See also:

Blackfrock Society (The)

Diet of Uz

Erikoinen Kervovasdottir

Great Uzdumalian Church of State

Lagador II

Reformation